Muntakhab al-tawarikh 32.3.5

32.3.5

And the rest of the learned men used to keep the Sultan’s assembly embellished and adorned with the jewels of poems and delicate points of learning and philosophy, and the following few verses are the offspring of the Sultan’s genius:— I do not wish those flowing locks of thine to be entangled, I do not wish that rosy cheek of thine (with shame) to burn. I wish that thou one night unclothed may'st come to my embrace, Yes, loud I cry with all my might, I would not have it hidden. And at the time when he was besieging Gwalior he built a pavilion and a lofty dome and wrote this quatrain as an inscription for that building: Quatrain. I whose foot spurns the head of heaven, How can a heap of stone and earth augment my dignity? This broken stone I have thus arranged in order that Some broken heart may haply take comfort from it. And Sa‘d Mantiqi and the other poets he ordered to point out to him the defects and beauties of this composition. They all praised it exceedingly and said: It has no fault, but he replied: You are afraid of hurting my feelings, I will point out its defect in this quatrain: It may be some chance traveller may pass by this spot Whose tattered garment is the satin mantle of the starless sky; Perchance from the felicity of his auspicious footsteps One atom may fall to my lot: this will suffice me.